It’s too bad so few people are following that path when it comes to politics.

I’ve been thinking about this ever since I listened to Bernie Sanders’ speech announcing his second run for president. In the midst of outlining his policies, many of which I agree with, he said the following:

“Our president is a pathological liar, a fraud, a racist, a sexist, a xenophobe and someone who is undermining American democracy as he leads us in an authoritarian direction.”

It doesn’t matter whether you believe those charges or not. It was his follow-up to that rant that struck me as nonsensical.

“I am running for president,” Sanders continued, “because we need leadership that brings us together, not divides us up.”

Really? He follows up a vicious rant that will obviously alienate millions and millions of the country’s voters with a plea for unity?

He does indeed want unity, but only from his liberal base. In that sense, he is not unlike Donald Trump — he’s preaching to the choir, and that’s not what this country needs right now.

We need moderation. We don’t need a candidate who rails about the free press being the enemy of the people, as Trump does, and we don’t need a candidate who rails about the wealthy being the enemy of the people, as Sanders basically does (without using those exact words).

Here’s the problem: Moderates are a dying breed.

While the key to American presidential politics is winning the center, the key to winning the Democratic nomination is winning the liberal base.

In 1994, Democrats who considered themselves “liberal” amounted to 25 percent of eligible voters. According to the latest Gallup poll, it’s now 51 percent — up from 48 percent in 2016. This is Sanders’ base, and if he’s successful in securing 95 percent of the delegates in that 51 percent base (as he did in 2016, garnering a delegate total of 45.6 percent from the group of designated “liberals”), it would be virtually impossible for a moderate candidate to beat him.

To me, that’s very scary. I’ve always considered myself a liberal, but not anymore. I’m redefining myself as a moderate. I don’t want to see a Sanders-Trump matchup for the simple reason that no matter who won, the result would outrage half the nation. And we’ve been through that scenario too many times.

While I probably wouldn’t have voted for either, I could have accepted moderates like John Kasich or Jeb Bush as the Republican nominee in 2016. Instead, we got Trump, because he played to and won the far-right base. We’ll get him again in 2020, and I’m beginning to believe Democrats will lose again in the general election unless they capture the center.

The only chance for a moderate Democrat to win the nomination is for several candidates to split the left’s vote. But I’ve read that the pundits think that is unlikely, that before a moderate candidate can secure enough delegates, the left will coalesce around a single candidate.

To combat this, moderates need to make a comeback. It’s too late for Republican moderates, who will be saddled with Trump as their nominee, but Democrats still have a chance to come up with someone who can win the general election and at least have a chance of unifying our country.

It will take sacrifices and compromises. Many of the liberal ideas and policies that I champion, like Medicare for all, may have to take a back seat for a while. I’ll take solace in knowing we’re heading in the right direction, with more and more people embracing the concept. But the time may not be right.

I’m drifting to the center, and my hope is that more and more voters, from both sides, will join me. At this point, I have no idea which Democratic candidate will get my vote, but I do know it will be a woman or man that at least has a chance of reducing the polarization that has strangled our country for far too long.